Mitsunori Morita, president of Shabondama Soap Co., a Kitakyushu-based soap-making company, is doing something no one has ever done. He’s producing a manga… about soap!

His solid belief in the merit of additive-free soap, soap using only natural ingredients, has been made more accessible since a comic book was published by Tokyo-based publishing company, Gentosha.

The book, costing 1,000 yen, and supervised by Morita himself, is titled “Susume! Sekken Seikatsu” (Go forward! Life with Soap). It is the story of Masae, a 31-year-old mother of two. Masae and her family enjoy the benefits of using additive-free soap, such as her 10-month-old baby boy’s relief from diaper rash after she changes from washing his clothes using synthetic detergents to soap without additives.

“I wish young people, especially young mothers with children knew about the importance of additive-free soap,” Morita said. “The production is time-consuming as it takes about a week to make soap without additives, whereas other manufacturers’ production time is just five hours. With this comic book I hope young readers will broaden their understanding.”